I've been a fan of Sports, baseball in particular, for most of my waking days...I have wondered, aloud at times, whether we have mass-mediaed all the fun and mystery out of sports. When I was a young'un, you'd be lucky to get two baseball games a week on the telly...just not enough, we thought. You could hear every one of them on the radio. Nowadays, it's odd to have a day where you CAN'T find a game somewhere.

I heard a show on the radio the other day and one of the topics discussed was the age gap in people's perception of gambling. Generally, the older one is, the more likely one will have a negative view of gambling. Mention Vegas to a pensioner and he is more likely to think of a den of mobsters and hoodlums and prostitution. Younger folks seem to perceive Vegas as a family vacation destination where the kids can have some fun while Mom & Dad lose a bit of change. The commentator was lamenting how the Donaghy story had no 'traction' (i.e. he wasn't getting much response from listeners). Now this was before the scope of that investigation spread wider, but I wonder if that will make any difference. The average NBA fan's age skews heavily into the 18-35 age bracket, the guy said, and those are the people least likely to be scandalized by the referee troubles. So damage to the NBA's credibility with their core fan base should be negligible.

Baseball is another matter, I think. I've been told by friends that I am too hard on the Pete Rose issue...the rule is no gambling on baseball....Period. Pete Rose did that, has now admitted as much, and was subject to a lifetime ban. There has been no sadder moment for my beloved game in my lifetime. I hated Pete Rose as a player, but it was the 'good' kind....he was always doing things to beat my favorite team, doing things I wished the players I rooted for would do. I admired Rose for his skills, his hustle and his never-say-die attitude. But he bet on baseball...you can be forgiven for almost anything else in that game, but you just can't bet on baseball. My friends tell me, "but he only bet on his team to win."...I say, "you said 'bet', and you can't do that." Pete Rose could have, and did, bet on all other sports. Dang it.

I know a NASCAR fan at work who also likes professional wrestling. Imagine! I like to kid him about there not being much difference between the two...I tell him that the sporting powers that be already know, in advance, who will win each race and each match. And it does not matter to him, not one bit...he figures his faves are gonna win a certain percentage of the time, so why worry? I certainly hope that his attitude is not a common one. Sports should be about the highest standards of fairness, that skill and strength and agility, along with a measure of luck, should carry the day.

I started using tivo to catch the Braves at times I could watch...inevitably, I would find out whether they won or lost beforehand...so I stopped. It is no fun watching a game in which you already know the outcome!

mervap wrote:. When I was a young'un, you'd be lucky to get two baseball games a week on the telly...just not enough, we thought. You could hear every one of them on the radio.

The average NBA fan's age skews heavily into the 18-35 age bracket, the guy said, and those are the people least likely to be scandalized by the referee troubles. So damage to the NBA's credibility with their core fan base should be negligible.

Baseball is another matter,

There has been no sadder moment for my beloved game in my lifetime.

Pete Rose could have, and did, bet on all other sports. Dang it.

first thing first...i grew up listening to baseball on the radio. i might even bring myself to say i prefer it on the radio.

second...maybe the nba's core fan base will not care. but what of the rest of us? truth is, i'm not all that much older than the ages described here (i'm 40). but what i find objectionable...is not whether the nba suffers...its whether or not it is ruined for me.

third...you seem to have the popular opinion on the whole pete rose thing. i respect your opinion, and those who share it with you. i know i am in the very small minority in saying he should be in the hall. golden rule in baseball is don't gamble. he did. then the scumball lied about it for years. i will not testify he is a goog human being. but i truly have not seen a finer baseball player. i hope he makes it after he passes. but i suspect he will not (it is only a lifetime ban, right?

i don't want to lose faith in sports. thats my issue. if it were about thrown games. or fixed games, i would be devastated.

I want to tell her that I love her a lot, but I got to get a belly full of wine.

I have no idea what you guys are complaining about. Baseball isn't a real sport anyway. So you get by a pitch...big deal. So it hurts..big deal. Try getting a puck in the face...20 stitchs later, you're back out playing again. Bunch of woosies.

i don't want to lose faith in sports. thats my issue. if it were about thrown games. or fixed games, i would be devastated.

As would I...I suppose it all comes down to one's ability to forgive...and what one is willing to forgive. My best friend swore off baseball during the 1994 strike and never returned. I don't think the Cubs (oddly, his favorite team!) cared when he didn't come back. Baseball as a whole has seen a growth in attendance since the strike, so nobody noticed when James quit going to games with me...except me. I went back, but not at the same level of enthusiasm. Two groups of guys way richer than me playing tug of war with my favorite spectator sport...I thought how easy it is to hate someone who makes that much more than me...I'd play for almost nothing, but NOBODY wants to see that! But I forgave them...grudgingly.

There isn't a law against being greedy. There certainly are rules against gambling in your own professional sport...That's my whole issue with Pete Rose. I feel strongly that he will make it eventually...he may not live to see it, though. It almost seems as though you could kill someone and still get in...probably not live to see it then...any who...

I think I could go back to watching baseball games if it was discovered that a few umpires were doing a Donaghy...anyone who watched the Braves vs. the Marlins back in 1997 and saw Eric Gregg's sorry performance in the Livan Hernandez victory in game 6 (I think) would be suspicious! Sorry, old wound! As long as I felt that the league was doing everything they could to root the baddies out, I could live with it.

As with any kind of faith, the keeping or losing of it is an entirely personal decision. And don't worry about the Cubs...if the Red Sox can win a World Series, the Cubs can, too. Hey, what do you think about the Hall of Fame's continued ignorance concerning Ron Santo? I think he should be in there.

mervap wrote: Hey, what do you think about the Hall of Fame's continued ignorance concerning Ron Santo? I think he should be in there.

i think ronnie's numbers are hall worthy, certainly...but for me, ronnie is sort of a hero. here's why...

he has done the cubs radio broadcast for years. (as a radio color commentator, he's horrible...tell you why in a second...but he's paired with the best radio guy i have ever heard, pat hughes...at least in chicago)

he has diabetes...because of this, he lost a leg to amputation several years ago.

then a year later...he got a virus in the other leg, had to have that leg amputated at the knee, too.

throughout it all...he has never, not once, ever complained about anything. he has asked for no pity. in fact has remained the most optimistic, good natured fellow i have ever known. he only asked for one thing...

let him watch the cubs play baseball. he was a lifetime cub except for one shameful year (his last) when he was traded to the white sox.

as a broadcaster...he cheers his cubbies as if he was one of the guys at a neighborhood tavern. every hit he gets overly excited...every error he groans about (all make for high entertainment, but lousy actual bradcasting)

he has a commradery (?) with the ball players on the cubs. they worshop him. they respect him. and he remains a lifelong cub himself. to prove it, he would gladly show anyone who asks his prosthetic legs...which proudly display pure white with royal blue pinstripes, and a cub logo.

(actually have goosebumps re-reading that)

every new cub who gets into the h.o.f. vows he (ronnie) will eternally get their vote for election. they actually show him sitting by the phone every two years, waiting for the phone call. he gets the call...but usually it is one of rejection. it breaks my heart. the concern locally is he will make it, just not before he dies because of his illness.

time will tell, i suppose. i guess thats what he gets being a lifelong cub. you'd think he'd be used to disappointment.

I want to tell her that I love her a lot, but I got to get a belly full of wine.

That, friend Chris, is precisely the reason that otherwise normal people, such as you and I, fall for this game...it's guys like Santo, Ernie Banks, Dale Murphy, Henry Aaron, Stan Musial, Ryne Sandberg, Phil Niekro, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripkin....they are examples of what today's player ought to aspire to. Team players, every one, and all of them at least seemed to be the kind of guy you could meet over a beer (or milk, in Murph's case!) at your local watering hole. He might be leaving early (gotta rest up for two tomorrow!), but he seemed...........normal.

A hockey player would loose a leg during the game, go to the bench, use his jock strap as a tourniquet, and not miss a shift.

Except for a strike or lockout, er, lockoot.

And if he lived in ATL., he could go oot after the game and not be recognized.

In all seriousness, we have a fledgling hockey community building around the Thrashers...they took a quick endo in the playoffs last year, but they're a young squad...Hey 2 of 3, who's your favorite team?